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Assault on the Tollen Dam
The Assault on the Tollen Dam was the first major encounter of the Swarm Invasion. The clash between the human force consisting of surviving Delta-One members as well as a group of outsiders: two former Gears - James Dominic Fenix and Delmont Walker - and Kait Diaz, born an outsider, and the Swarm was aimed at rescuing Kait's mother, Reyna Diaz, who was abducted with the rest of their outsider community a few hours earlier. The fighting took place hours after the discovery of the Swarm's existence at the Tollen Dam and it's surroundings as well as in a nearby town of Speyer, the COG's important industrial center during the Locust War. Order of Battle Battle at the Dam After rescuing Marcus, learning the truth behind the locust crystalization and successfully escaping the osmium mine located beneath Fort Reval, Marcus suggests a detour in order to get backup, but is opposed by Kait. JD and the rest decide to head to the Tollen Dam - a pre-imulsion era power plant, believing Kait's mother, Reyna, was taken to another locust burial site, located in the dam's drained reservoir. On their way, they stumble upon the body of a Gear killed during the Locust War and take his COG tag, hoping to take it to New Ephyra later. Del says that the COG's data concerning the burial sites is classified and Marcus mentions there were dozens or hundreds of them scattered all over Sera. The squad battles their way to th e dam and after avoiding a windflare, Marcus and JD mention the COG's theories on the appearance of windflares, such as holes in the planetary crust, sunspots and atmospheric distortions. At the base of the dam, Marcus says he's already been here with the COG and soon after they encounter a small group of drones and their first Carrier. As JD and his father and friends enter the dam, Marcus starts remembering his and Delta-One's failed attempt at rescuing Gears that were trapped inside the Dam during the war, when the Locust destroyed the last power plant supplying the COG's industry in the region. They manage to successfully turn the power back on and as another windflare hits the dam, they reach the top, where they can see the dam's very advanced-looking swarm hive. Kait urges the squad to get down there immidiately and save her mother, but the rest manages to convince her that this is not only about her mother now and that they would surely meet their demise if they entered it without any support. Marcus says that back at the Stroud Estate, he informed his [https://gearsofwar.fandom.com/wiki/Damon_S._Baird "old friend"] he might need him later, but he will not be able to call him from the dam. Del points at a satellite dish located a few miles away with Marcus agreeing it may work. As they fight the Swarm reinforcements and struggle with the wind, they find themselves under heavy fire from an MG nest located in a downed King Raven. JD quickly deals with it using a dead siegebeast and creates a bridge the squad uses to get through a hole in the dam. After .]]taking shelter on the other side of the dam, JD, Del, Kait and Marcus meet a scion that looks familiar to Kait. She notices he is missing a hand and after remembering Reyna cutting off one of her abductor's hands, she realizes it's the same scion that took her. Kait demands information on her mother and the place she's being kept in, to which he responds by laughing and saying that "She is where she belongs". Then, the Speaker calls his swarmak mount - A brumak crystalized after the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon was deployed - and prepares for the fight. JD and the rest manage to defeat him and his forces, leaving only the Speaker alive. He desperately tries to grab a Boomshot lying on the floor next to him, but is quickly incapacitated by JD and Del. Kait, assuming that all creatures from the dam's hive will hear her message through the Speaker, declares they are going rescue her mother and burn the hive to the ground. Finally, Kait kills the Speaker by curb-stomping him and proceeds to Speyer with the rest of the team. Battle of Speyer In the attempts to kill JD.]]morning, the squad leaves the dam and heads to Speyer. On the outskirts of the town, they meet First Minister Mina Jinn - or rather - another DeeBee used for communication. Jinn - knowing it's not the outsiders, but the Swarm who's been abducting COG citizens and soldiers - urges JD, Del, Kait and Marcus to come back to New Ephyra and prepare for "whatever is out there". As JD violently rebels against Jinn, her DeeBee gets hit with a pouncer quill and unexpectedly grabs JD by his throat. He manages to grab his combat knife and kill it and the pouncer that infected it. They enter Speyer, to find out the town is already a warzone, with the Swarm forces and DBs fighting eachother. On their way to the satellite dish, JD, Del and Kait start theorizing on the Swarm being able to infect DBs. The team fights it's way through the town, including an old Centaur tank factory. When they reach the station, Marcus heads inside to call in support. The rest remains outside and starts to notice the Swarm is preparing an attack on their position. A few moments later Marcus walks out with a fabricator, scaring the rest. After repelling a few Swarm attacks, the team notices green smoke outside the town. Knowing it's their signal, they start heading towards it's source. As they arrive at the meeting place, they're approached by two construction mechs, controlled by Damon Baird and Augustus Cole. Marcus and JD greet them and after a little quarrel between Baird and JD, the latter reveals to Kait that Baird is the founder and CEO of DB Industries and it was his company that created the DeeBees. Delta Squad then walks up to a swarm pod. Cole is surprised that the Locust are really back, then admits he missed them in a weird way. Hearing it, Baird nods and Marcus says he knows what Cole means. As JD and Kait take control over Jack Jnr. and Second Betty, a King Raven arrives to pick up the rest and Samantha Byrne reveals herself to be the pilot. JD, Kait, Del and reunited Delta Squad then start their final push towards the Hive. The Hive ]]In the matter of minutes, JD and Kait, supported by Sam's KR, manage to break through the base of the dam and enter the drained reservoir where after repelling a few barrages of cankers, they're attacked by a large creature, capable of firing quills from it's tentacles as well as gestating cankers in it's chest. As they tear it's tentacles off, the beast manages to shoot the King Raven down. None of the people on board are killed, but Marcus tells JD and Kait they're under attack, meaning they will have to finish the fight on their own. JD asks Baird about the chopper's condition, then rips it's main rotor off and uses it cut the beast's legs off. Without it's tentacles and legs, the creature collapses and JD deals the final blow by driving the rotor into it's skull. Gears reg roup outside the cave, then enter the heart of the hive only to find Reyna attatched to the Swarm's biomass, partially transformed. Kait asks Marcus if he knew, he confirms, but says he did not know they would find something like that. Reyna tells them that if she is freed from the network, she will die and asks her daughter for a mercy kill. JD objects, saying Reyna cannot ask Kait to kill her, but Kait stops him and asks him to leave so she can have a final goodbye with her mother. When Kait and Reyna are alone, Reyna asks her daughter to take her necklace. Kait starts to cut her mother off the biomass and as she continues, she breaks down. Reyna begs Kait to continue and only then Kait is able to finally euthanize her mother. As Kait exits the cave crying, JD and the others rush to her to comfort her. Marcus remarks that this war is only beginning and JD should take Kait to some safe place. She responds by saying she does not need protection and Marcus - knowing the pain of loss and the trauma cause by it - tells her she needs time to deal with the death of Reyna, not protection. She shows them her mother's necklace and declares it belonged to her grandmother, a woman she never met. Only Kait is able to see the medallion's reverse - the symbol of the Locust Horde. Aftermath Even though the mission was technically a failure, as the Gears were no able to rescue Kait's mother in time, it had great strategic meaning. By investigating a second burial site, Marcus, JD, Del and Kait confirmed that most - if on all of them - are infested by the Swarm, which indeed is connected to the Locust. The battle was also the first instance of Mina Jinn's forces clashing with the Swarm, thus confirming it's existance to the COG, which finds itself at war witn it's old enemy. That also means the outsiders were not responsible for the kidnappings, which allowed a ceasefire and potential cooperation between the human factions against the Swarm. The Swarm also revealed it's ability to infect DeeBees and turn them into hybrids like Rejects and Stumps, which puts the new COG at a huge disadvantage as most of their armed forces in 42 A.E. consists of DBs. Reyna giving her necklace to Kait also revealed the fact that Queen Myrrah gave birth to a successor of the Horde before dying, meaning she had human descendands. That secret is currently known only to Kait Diaz. Reyna being Myrrah's descendant was most likely the very reason the Swarm was interested in abducting her. Category:Battles